Recently Zealandia has had a special visitor. Sirocco is a Kakapo who has been on tour around New Zealand (Auckland a few years back, Dunedin before coming to Wellington) and as official Spokesbird for Conservation he spreads the conservation message (well, his staff do) while also giving the public the chance to get close to […]
The falcon fledges
Over the past few weeks the young falcon ball of fluff has become a falcon fledgling. Repeat visits have been rewarded with repeat viewings of the rapidly growing youngster as it got bolder, bigger and then started making short hops that eventually turned into flying. Photo by Brendon & Keryn Ineffective hiding. Photo by Brendon […]
Moving to the other side of the log
The Karearea pair at Zealandia hatched a chick on around the 28th August and last week some brave experts from Wingspan went in and managed to put an identification band onto one of the chicks legs (as documented here, and there are more photos here from Steve Atwood who was lucky enough to attend). Yesterday […]
Spring is in the air, just about
The snow has gone and the temperature is generally getting warmer (except for the last few days where we’ve had what is hopefully winters last hurrah). We’ve been out and about a few times and I’ve been getting out to Zealandia a lot to check up on the wildlife. The day after the last post […]
South Island: Kaikoura to Picton
Out whale watching trip was booked for 7.45am so I figured up get up extra early and see the sunrise. The weather looked good as I walked across the railway lines out the back of the hostel and went down on to the beach. I watched as the snow capped mountains turned pink with the […]
South Island: Arthur’s Pass to Kaikoura
We had breakfast in the restaurant area and it was simple but OK. We then packed and drove to the nearby carpark we had walked through yesterday to do the other waterfall walk, this time to see the Bridal Veil falls. Through quiet forest we followed the track again upwards, though not as steep as […]
South Island: Hokitika to Arthur’s Pass
Our last few hours on the West Coast started by heading north from Hokitika towards Kumara Junction where we turned eastward. At Kumara we stopped to have a look at a photo gallery. The work was very good and I bought a print, I’ll have to have a look at it later to get the […]
South Island: The Hokitika Gorge and Lake Kaniere
The forecast today wasn’t that great as as we drove towards the Hokitika Gorge in the morning the mist and low cloud turned to drizzle and mist. There were a few cars at the gorge walk car park and more than a few large sandflies as well, maybe the bites distracted me as I set […]
South Island: Westport to Hokitika
All packed at Westport we headed south, first stop back at Punakaiki. Through blind luck we timed our visit with high tide which meant we got to see some blow hole action. Getting photos was proving to be troublesome, in the end we resorted to patience and simply waited until the waves got the right […]
South Island: Denniston, Cape Foulwind & Punakaiki
Our first trip of the day saw us heading north of Westport to the old mining town of Denniston. On public holidays, today being Labour Day, the Denniston Friends of the Hill historical society (the FotH website appears to have expired) opens their doors at the old School building and their records can be viewed. […]
South Island: Karamea to Westport
A short drive today down from Karamea to another Marram house, this time just out of Westport at Carters Beach. Today’s walk was on the Charming Creek Walkway, accessible just behind the coal works at Hector. The first section of track follows the old railway line that was used to facilitate coal extraction from further […]
South Island: The Heaphy Track & Oparara Basin
We got a fair bit of walking down today, even though the weather wasn’t the best with occasional showers getting more frequent as the afternoon wore on. Driving north from Karamea we headed towards the start of the Heaphy Track, passing farmland seemingly populated more by pukeko and weka than cows and sheep. We were […]